Visually impaired students learn the sport of goalball

Goalball is a sport where you can use your wit, strength and competitiveness to be an elite international athlete.

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By Nancy Mace/The Record Herald

Waynesboro Record Herald - Waynesboro, PA

By Nancy Mace/The Record Herald

Posted Nov. 15, 2012 at 10:30 AM

By Nancy Mace/The Record Herald

Posted Nov. 15, 2012 at 10:30 AM

Waynesboro, Pa.

WAYNESBORO — Being visually impaired doesn’t keep Waynesboro Area Middle School eighth-grader Teagan Russ on the sidelines in this game.

The same is true for goalball competitor Andy Jenks, who visited the school today.

“Goalball is a sport where you can use your wit, strength and competitiveness to be an elite international athlete,” said Jenks. “My vision is 20/200, which makes me legally blind. What I can read from 20 feet away, those with 20/20 vision can read from 200 feet away. I have poor color vision as well.”

Jenks, 22, first met Teagan four years ago at CampAbilities PA at West Chester University, where he is a senior majoring in political science.

“Every year I teach goalball at the sports camp that is for visually impaired and blind children ages 8 to 18,” he said.

About goalball

Goalball is played by two teams of three using a ball with bells inside. The ball is the size of a basketball but twice the weight.

The object of the game is to throw the ball into the opposing team’s net, while defenders attempt to block it with their bodies. The indoor court has raised lines to assist players with their orientation and the ball must make contact with certain areas of the court during the game.

The sport has been incorporated into the curriculum at WAMS, said Angie Fuss, the health/physical education teacher.

“When Teagan’s mom, Melissa, and her aide, Shane Harkins, came to me and asked me, I thought it would be a great idea,” Fuss said.

Goalball is a sport that allows Jenks to compete with his peers, he said.

“Whenever I try to play basketball or football I am at a disadvantage because of my low vision,” he explained.

Jenks, who is in the process of applying to graduate school, also plays baritone and tenor sax in a rock band and likes to lift weights.

Legally blind, Teagan was born with a rare disorder, Leber’s congenital amaurosis. Teagan, who is often quite quiet, is very excited about playing goalball, according to Fuss.

“Her mom said she is happy that we are doing something in class that she is going to be good at ... and it really helps that everyone will be on the same playing level as her because they will be wearing blindfolds,” she added.

Hooked on goalball

Jenks learned goalball at a sports day for the visually impaired at the University of Delaware in 2000.

“There I met future teammates and coaches of mine and was hooked,” he said.

Jenks played goalball on Saturdays for the next two years and then started going to men’s practices in the fall of 2002. He competed in his first regional men’s tournament in 2004 in New Jersey.

Page 2 of 2 - Jenks moved up to the team PA Venom full-time in 2007.

“Since then, we have competed in three national championship games and won two of them. In 2008, I was named an alternate to the Beijing Paralympic team.”

He has been a traveling member of Team USA since 2009 and a permanent member since 2010.

“As a member of the team we did not qualify for the 2012 London Paralympics but I look forward to competing in Rio in 2016,” he added.

Jenks enjoys teaching the game to people because it shows them how those who cannot see can achieve great things.

“Goalball is the only Paralympic sport that isn’t adapted from a sighted sport so that makes it incredibly unique. Every Paralympics it becomes a fan favorite because of the fast pace and action of the game,” added Jenks, one of six men on the U.S. national team.

“The important thing is to remember that even though you may be disabled physically in one area there are still limitless opportunities in life that you can still do,” Jenks said. “The only job we can’t do is play baseball professionally, drive trucks or fly planes. I never wanted to be a pilot anyway.”